1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image collating apparatus for comparing/collating images before/after predetermined processing, an image forming apparatus, an image collating method, and an image collating program product.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, processing speeds of image forming apparatuses such as printers and printing presses have greatly increased. On the other hand, to obtain high quality printing results, it is preferable for a user to prevent generation of “noise” (“deletion”, referring to defects caused when toner is not attached and an image is not formed, or “dirt”, referring to defects caused when that excess toner remains on the print surface) when an image is recorded on a medium. Commonly, the user visually confirms the printed material in order to remove media on which such noise is present. However, such visual inspection is time consuming and tiring, and it is difficult to maintain consistency of criterion among a plurality of operators. There is also a problem that a great deal of time is required to train the operators. To solve the problem, various automatic image inspection apparatuses have been proposed.